Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz attends a press conference after closing session of the foreign ministers' meeting of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Hamburg, northern Germany, on December 9, 2016. / AFP / John MACDOUGALL (Photo credit should read JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP/Getty Images)

Ukraine suffered one of the most horrendous man-made disasters in recent memory — the Chernobyl nuclear accident of 1986. It is now suffering through a war that is poisoning relations between Donbas and the rest of Ukraine, polluting the political climate between Kiev and Moscow and tainting the relationship between Russia and countries around the world. The conflict also has the potential to create pollution of a very real kind — as continued fighting threatens chlorine storage facilities, chemical plants, metallurgical factories, hazardous waste storage sites, and coal mines. The situation is a ticking time bomb. Because the divided communities are geographically very close, an incident on one side of the line of contact will have an impact on people living on the other side — and beyond.

Interesting perspective on the potential of wildlife #conservation as a tool for peacebuilding in #SouthSudan from Marisa O. Ensor in @NewSecurityBeat Wildlife and natural resources have been under huge pressure as a result of its conflict.

New @SRtoxics report for #UNHRC finds that states and businesses have an obligation to implement special measures to protect workers in high-risk sectors such as the #military from exposure to toxic substances https://t.co/3PoCPznRgH #PERAC #veterans #burnpits